Acupuncture for Weight Control: A Holistic Approach
Acupuncture for Weight Control
Acupuncture for weight control has become an increasingly popular method for achieving weight loss. Weight loss has been a major concern in the 21st century, especially over the last 30 years. From low-fat diets to protein diets, paleo diets, vegan diets, and even breatharianism, the quest for weight loss has seen many trends. However, the root of the weight gain issue often lies with large food conglomerates.
The Role of Acupuncture for Weight Control
Companies like Kraft, General Mills, and Gordon Food Center sell food lacking nutritional value, filled with harmful fillers that exacerbate weight gain. These companies use natural flavors (MSG) to create food addictions, leading consumers to eat more.
When you buy more of these products due to addiction, these companies profit at the expense of your waistline and health. Nutrient-deficient food will eventually make you sick. We need to consume a variety of foods to get all the vitamins and minerals necessary for a fully functional body. Relying on packaged or fast food for nutrients not only leads to weight gain but also poses serious health risks.
In Chinese medicine, we view healthy eating as crucial, but our approach to weight loss differs from that of Western nutritionists or doctors. As practitioners, we ask many questions about your overall health, then check your tongue and pulses to diagnose your body. Often, weight gain is diagnosed as “Spleen Qi” deficiency, meaning weak digestion and poor nutrient absorption.
Symptoms of Spleen Qi deficiency include fatigue, gas or bloating, loose stools, weak limbs, a weak voice, easily bruised skin, hemorrhoid issues, sugar cravings, allergies, obesity, pale complexion, weak immunity, and possible irregular periods. Not all symptoms need to be present for this diagnosis.
Sugar cravings are a key indicator of a weak spleen. If the body isn’t getting enough energy from food, sugar provides a quick boost but is harmful long-term. Proper spleen function eliminates sugar cravings.
Another common pattern is damp or phlegm blocking the spleen, presenting as reduced appetite, chest congestion, profuse saliva or mucus, a heavy or sluggish body, and diarrhea. This pattern often leads to cravings for greasy, fatty, and sugary foods like ice cream. Dairy products worsen this condition, so reducing intake can improve symptoms.
After identifying the major patterns of weight gain, we tailor a plan to the patient’s specific pattern. Instead of starting a fad diet, we recommend regular acupuncture for weight control and herbal formulas to strengthen the spleen. During acupuncture sessions, we develop a plan to eliminate foods that cause weight gain and add foods that provide proper nutrients and strengthen the spleen.
Foods that strengthen the spleen include amaranth, millet, bitter greens, cooked celery, turnips, asparagus, yams, pumpkin, garlic, cooked carrots, and sunflower seeds. Drinking warm or room temperature water is also beneficial, as iced water hinders spleen function and digestion. Avoid raw vegetables initially, as they are harder to digest. Raw foods are better in summer when the body is warm, while cooked vegetables are easier to digest.
Exercise is the final element of weight loss. Start with at least 30 minutes of daily exercise, such as walking, which is low impact. Gradually increase to higher impact activities as you feel comfortable. Adding positive habits to your life will boost your energy and help you stay motivated toward your goal.
Remember, losing weight is a process. It may take months or years to reach your goal weight, but learning to be healthy is a lifelong practice. The beginning is the hardest part, but it gets easier as you progress.
Acupuncture for Weight Control in Bloomfield Hills, MI
Berkley Acupuncture is located at
36700 Woodward Ave, Suite 30
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Serving the Detroit Metro area including Birmingham, Royal Oak, Berkley, Beverly Hills, Franklin and Troy.
(248) 210-1895
Quit Smoking with Acupuncture: A Holistic Approach
FINALLY! I can quit smoking without the terrible withdrawals!
There seems to be a stigma with acupuncture and quitting smoking. Most people in the western world believe that acupuncture does just a few things, helps with pain and decreases you urge for cigarettes.
This is far from the truth, acupuncture has been around for at least 3000 years, some would say 5000 or more years. This ancient medicine has been helping with just about every ailment known to man. Colds, flu, hepatitis, broken bones, stomach issues, gynecological issues, pain and so much more.
It is true though, acupuncture does help adjust the cravings for cigarettes and any other addictive substance as well. The NADA protocol which stands for National Acupuncture Detoxification Association has been helping people quit unhealthy habits since the 70’s. This protocol consists of putting 5 small needles on tiny points within the ear. Each point has a specific purpose which helps cravings and detoxification.
The first point is called Shen Men. Shen men first puts the patient in the state of receptivity to the treatment. It also helps ground the patient, calm stress and anxiety and sedates excessive sensitivity.
The second point is called the autonomic point. This helps balance out the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system along with helping the blood circulation. When balancing out the sympathetic nervous system, we are helping to stabilize the “fight or flight” reaction by calming the body.
Most people that are highly stressed out have a hyper sensitive sympathetic nervous system. When something goes wrong in life, such as stress or arguments people tend to either push back by fighting or running away. If its flight, then usually the smoker will go somewhere to light up a cigarette to relieve the presume threat. What the parasympathetic nervous system does is let you “rest and digest”.
If the body is always in fight or flight, then the body is not allowing itself to get good sleep or digest their food properly. This will cause a perpetual loop going back to over stimulating the sympathetic causing more stress due to being tired. Then, the body will require caffeine to stay awake and we all know how good a cigarette and coffee taste! So, balancing the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system will help you sleep and keep the stress levels down.
The 3rd point that would be needled is called Lung 2. The lung point has the function to detox the body but also has an emotional component within the Chinese medicine theory as well. This emotional factor explains that the lungs hold “grief”. Some smokers may have emotional baggage from their past which they are trying to suppress or push down by smoking.
Unconsciously, the smoker could be pushing down the emotion of grief with the smoke and not letting whatever the grief being held in to surface. The cigarette is a crutch to alleviate the pain the grief is causing. This is a much more esoteric way to thing about this but from my own experience of quitting smoking, I needed to let go of some of my own demons before wanting to quit as well. The Lung 2 point is great for detoxing and releasing grief.
The fourth point is the liver point. The liver is the largest organ in the body that helps detoxification. By needling this point, it is helping the liver detox the blood for all toxins. Also, the liver holds the emotions in general but specifically irritability and stress.
This goes back to the sympathetic nervous system as well. Fight or flight is a stress issue. If the liver is congested then the body becomes stressed and when the body is stressed is caused congestion which causes the qi to stagnate. Smooth Qi means less stress and better flow of blood.
The last point is the Kidney point. What the kidney does in the western sense is detoxify the blood through the urination function. So, the lung, kidney and liver are all helping rid of toxicity. Also, in the Chinese theory, the kidney stores our life essence which correlated to the bones, reproduction, growth, brain function and aging. Most of these are affected if you smoke for long enough.
In general, this is a great point for all. What I want to make clear is that acupuncture will not be the sole factor in quitting smoking.
Acupuncture and the NADA protocol is a tool to help facilitate the process. Quitting smoking is a process and most people do not quit on the first try. When I first wanted to quit, I relapsed several times before I finally was able to kick the smokes to the can.
I also have a behavioral psychology degree so I implemented those ideas for myself to move in a positive way towards my goal of quitting. Always, remember baby steps are key to being smoke free.
Adding positive things to your life to cancel out the negative behaviors will help keep your mind of smoking as well. Adding exercise, meditation, group support or a psychologist will help tremendously as well.
Just remember, quitting smoking is a process and you must be ready to quit for acupuncture or any other tool to work.
Acupuncture for Quitting Smoking in Bloomfield Hills, MI
Berkley Acupuncture is located at
36700 Woodward Ave, Suite 30
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Serving the Detroit Metro area including Birmingham, Royal Oak, Berkley, Beverly Hills, Franklin and Troy.
(248) 210-1895
Recognize and Address Magnesium Deficiency Symptoms
Magnesium deficiency Symptoms are rampant in most of the modern world. Due to industrial farming, the soil is not getting re-mineralized and causing havoc to the population that eats big agricultural food. Unfortunately, it goes much deeper and darker but for this topic we’ll stick with Magnesium and food.
Common Magnesium Deficiency Symptoms
If you aren’t sure if you have magnesium deficiency here are the main symptoms: Twitches, muscle tightness, cramps, back pain, neck pain, headaches, TMJ, constipation, menstrual cramps, decreased night vision, insomnia, anxiety, restless leg syndrome, panic attacks, numbness and tingling and palpations. Also, craving salt and carbohydrates.
A couple of early signs of magnesium deficiency is eye twitching, neck/shoulder tension and headaches. This sounds like 85-90% of the population out there dealing with stress. For most people magnesium needs to be taken every day. I have had a few people try magnesium for their insomnia but they usually fall short by not taking it long enough and then they don’t believe it will work. There is no magic bullet when supplementing with herbs, vitamins or minerals. It takes time, but using magnesium oil will get it into the body faster. This goes for pain in the back as well, it takes time to saturate the cells with magnesium so don’t give up after a week or so.
If you were wondering if there are any good foods that have magnesium in it there are a few: Kale, baby spinach(cooked), swiss chard, brazil nuts, cashews, flax seed, salmon, halibut, avocados, banana’s and dark chocolate.
A product that I like is 'Calm' Magnesium powder if you were wondering what to buy. It is a powder form that you put in water. It actually tastes pretty good too, if you like the taste of lemonade. Also, it is best to take at nighttime since, like its name, will calm you down.
If you have had long standing pain, then just taking magnesium probably will not completely fix the problem but the combination of acupuncture and magnesium will do wonders.
Acupuncture in Bloomfield Hills, MI
Berkley Acupuncture is located at
36700 Woodward Ave, Suite 30
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Serving the Detroit Metro area including Birmingham, Royal Oak, Berkley, Beverly Hills, Franklin and Troy.
(248) 210-1895